When Your Gone
by alphayamergo
Summary: Max thinks of Dylan after he dies. Implied Mylan.


**A/NL I had a sudden hit of inspiration. Based off "When Your Gone" by Avril Lavigne. Just please don't kill me…?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Unfortunately.**

I couldn't believe we were going to Dylan's funeral.

We'd set up the funeral – it was at the same place Ari was buried, actually, which made it a whole lot worse. The fact he'd died saving me didn't help at all.

"_Max! Get out of here!"_

_I glanced over at Dylan's direction, all the while fighting those damned M-Geeks, shouting at him, "No! The flock never leaves a member behind!"_

_Well, expect Fang, who had left us all behind. Dylan inched his way slowly over to me, until we were fighting side by side. Punch, kick, dead. Punch, kick, and punch some more, that one's dead, too._

"_MAX!" Angel's scream was sudden, and then was the unmistakable sound of a bullet being fired. Dylan was quick – he threw himself in front of me, and I watched with horror as the bullet smashed in to him._

"_Dylan!" I shrieked, trying to get enough time to check his pulse. But M-Geeks were still crowding in on us, thick and fast. They were ignoring the body at my feet, and going for us. Or, well, me, mainly._

_Once the fight was over, I dropped down to check his pulse. I didn't really think he was still alive, but I had to check._

"_Is he - ?" began Nudge._

_Nothing. The body was cold and lifeless. "He's dead."_

My throat closed as I recalled that terrible day. I closed my eyes, remembering the dead flock member. We'd never officially given him the title, but he'd gradually just become one of us. Maybe it was because of how he helped us cope after Fang left – yes, that was it.

Angel looked terrible. She blamed herself. She'd realized the M-Geek was going to shoot, but she hadn't been able to do anything about it except scream my name. But she thought that maybe she should have done something more. I assured her she couldn't have, but it wasn't working very well.

"_Hey, Max!"_

_It was Dylan again, probably coming in to give me breakfast._

"_Morning, Dylan," I replied. "You didn't need to bring me breakfast. I was planning to come out and make something a bit later."_

"_Oh, then I it's definitely a good thing I brought you breakfast. I've heard horror stories about your cooking. From the sound of it, you could set cereal on fire."_

_I flipped him off, but he didn't seem to notice. "Are you going to come out?" he asked._

"_I've got to eat breakfast, now I've got it!" I protested._

"_I meant after you ate it," Dylan replied. He sat down on the end of my bed, sighing heavily as if he expected me to take ages. I rolled my eyes at him._

"_I won't take that long," I huffed._

"_Sure you won't. Especially since you're not eating right now."_

_I blushed, glancing down at my bowl, before beginning to eat._

I sighed. He'd been so carefree…

I blinked back tears, glaring at the floor. I felt worse than when I had found Fang's letter! What was wrong with me?

Angel put a bunch of flowers on his grave. "I'm so sorry I didn't do anything," she whispered. "You were a great member of the flock. You didn't try to take Fang's place, but you made us all feel better."

A tear rolled down one check, and I furiously wiped it away. But the tears were falling uncontrollably now, and I couldn't stop them.

It was my turn now, but when I went to speak, I found I couldn't. I gulped, and tried again.

"Dylan," I murmured. "I was so suspicious of you when we met. But you were great, and a lot of fun. And…" I couldn't go on, so I went back to my seat.

Dylan. I would miss him a lot. He was a good friend, a good flock member.

_He was more than a friend,_ the Voice told me.

_No, he wasn't! He was my friend! That's it! Please don't feed my all that 'perfect other half' crap, because I don't want to hear it!_ I thought-yelled at it.

Everything seemed to remind me of Dylan. There was where he sat where he teased me so much that I had to get out of bed so I could hit him. There was that place where he comforted me while I cried about Fang.

He had talked to me a lot, just keeping my mind away from Fang. He made me heal. The hole in my chest hadn't healed, but he made it get smaller. But now he was dead, it was a big, gaping wound again.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. _Oh, Dylan, I wish you were alive just so I could kill you for making me feel this bad!_ I thought fiercely.

"_Hey – " Dylan was back. Probably with desert this time. He cut off when he saw me, though, saw the tear rolling down my cheeks. "Max, are you okay?"_

"_Yes," I said. "I'm fine." I tried to wipe my tears away, but there were already new ones waiting to take its place._

"_You're not fine," Dylan said, matter-of-factly. "Max, you can't keep doing this. He left _you_, so you shouldn't cry over it. You should be ranting and saying you hate him and calling him a jerk. I bet you'll feel a lot better."_

"_I already do that," I sniffled._

_That seemed to shut him down. "Oh."_

_He looked so uncomfortable I nearly laughed. My tears were slowing, though, until they finally stopped altogether._

"_Thanks, Dylan," I told him._

I sighed. "I'm going to miss you, Dylan," I whispered into the cold night air. I glanced down at the ground before continuing. "You were great. A true member of the flock."

I paused. "But I can't keep grieving for you. You're gone, and the world still needs saving."

I got up from my tree branch and leapt into the air. I unfurled my wings and flew away into the night.

**A/n: *ducks from rotton tomatoes* Hey, the Mylan was just implied! At least I didn't make it a full on Mylan fic!**


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